Not particularly Afterword friendly I know but Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation was released 30 years ago today. It completely blew me away at the time, changing me from a twee indie fan to a noise freak over the course of one listen and still gets a regular spin to this day.
My favourite LP is 30 today
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Great clip. Love the close ups on the guitars at the start and the cutaways are really well paced.
Dunno about not AW friendly reckon there would be quite a few SY fans
I was just checking something and the drummer Bert was sacked replaced by Jim Sclavunos who quit so he rejoined on condition he wouldnt be sacked at tour end and later on, guess what, he fucking quit🤔
Great band, and remarkably consistent over their long career. There’s an indie-centric view that they peaked with Daydream Nation. However, while it is one of their best, plenty more great releases were to come, including Dirty, Washing Machine and strong, late-period works such as Murray St and Sonic Nurse.
I think they sometimes don’t get the respect they deserve simply because they kept on going for so long, and if they’d tanked after Daydream Nation their cult status would be assured. Instead, they’ve built a formidable body of work and, I think, time will show that they were truly one of the greats.
Certainly a “Yay!”from me: one of my favourite albums and, I would argue, one of the best rock albums of its decade. Slightly odd to me that their reputation now seems to be based mostly on the 90s Geffen Records era, but perhaps I am an indie snob.
Yes, great album and I shall have an opportunity to listen to it driving home from a meeting later on this evening.
I kind of missed it at the time although I remember one of my housemates at uni being into it and them.
They’re one of the very few bands I’d liked to have seen live but never did (add Talk Talk and Portishead to that little list). I saw some live footage once and the camera panned round to the side of the stage to reveal the bank of guitars, presumably all tuned up differently. Hats off to the guitar tech if you ask me.
I’ve never got on with them but I admire them, and that’s a great clip. They seem a bit desperate and mad, which is usually a good thing in rock’n’roll.
…also, I assumed this thread was going to be about Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic MCs. Disappoint!
Dirty is the one for me. 12:48 into this excellent Late Show compilation:
Glad I’m not the only fan here then! I wore a Dirty* t shirt to work today as a tribute as I surprisingly lack a DDN one. Was lucky to see them a few times – earliest one being in Liverpool on the Goo tour with Teenage Fanclub supporting just after(?) A Catholic Education came out.
* I don’t mean it was covered in tomato soup stains obviously!
For less “challenging” noises, 2006’s Rather Ripped is really quite commercial. Power pop, if you will. I like it.
Agree that they evolved on Geffen but the quality was still excellent. DDN is fab and perhaps the cap on that particular SN era. Great album, and of course the cover provided the introduction to Gerhard Richter, my favourite modern painter, for many, me included.
Love SY. Daydream Nation is up there, but my own favourites would be Sister and Murray Street. Only saw them the once, at Reading in 1991, and they were incredible.